MCI Project Summaries 2008 - Smithsonian Institution

June 15, 2009
Driving Biological Diversity Using Mass Spectrometry
John R. Yates, Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute
A component to understanding biological processes involves identifying the proteins
expressed in cells as well as their modifications and the dynamics of processes. Several major
technologies, but especially mass spectrometry, have benefited from large scale genome
sequencing of organisms. The sequence data produced by these efforts can be used to interpret
mass spectrometry data of proteins and thus enables rapid and large-scale analysis of protein data
from experiments. More advanced methods for data analysis have allowed the analysis of data
from non-sequenced organisms as well. Advances in separation technologies as well as mass
spectrometers have improved the scale of experiments for protein identification. This has
improved the analysis of protein complexes, and more complicated protein mixtures.
Quantitative mass spectrometry can be used to study biological processes such as protein-protein
interactions, development or the effects of gene mutations on pathways. Recent studies on the
interactions of the Cystic Fibrosis Transport Regulator as it progresses through the folding
pathway was presented. This lecture illustrated how mass spectrometry based methods can be
used to learn about biological processes.
August 12, 2009
Paint Technology and the Abstract Expressionists
Dr. Stuart Croll, Professor and Chair, Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, North
Dakota State University
Dr. Croll was previously with Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, a manufacturer of
titanium dioxide pigments, where he was the Director of Pigment Research and External
Alliances. He earned a degree in physics from the University of London, and subsequently
completed a doctorate in physics at the University of Leeds. He first worked in England, then
moved to the Division of Building Research in the National Research Council Canada where he
studied the internal stresses in coating films that arise during curing. He then worked at the
Sherwin-Williams paint company, where he studied film formation in aqueous and non-aqueous
coatings, application rheology, the weathering of coatings, adhesion, dispersion stability and
polymer characterization and became the Director of Research in the Coatings Division.
In addition to weathering durability, film formation, and internal stresses in films, Dr.
Croll’s research interests include the application of coatings’ and materials science to the
preservation and restoration of modern art, and how external events, polymer science, pigment
development and analytical instrumentation influence the history of paint technology.
Dr. Croll is an active collaborator in modern paintings conservation research. Dr. Croll’s
presentation at MCI addressed the rapid changes in paint technology that took place during the
era of the American Abstract Expressionists.
19